Science: Twilight of the Gods

At one time it was the most important city in the regiona bustling
commercial center known for its massive monuments, its crowded streets
and commercial districts, and its cultural and religious institutions.
Then, suddenly, it was abandoned. Within a generation most of its
population departed and the once magnificent city became all but a
ghost town.

That scenario might be a cautionary account of the fall of New York
after default. In fact, it is the history of a pre-Columbian city
called Teotihuacan (the Aztecs' word for "the place the gods call
home"),...